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mikeconnellan
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Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Manual Pitch Override
What can I say. In 1986 I was 17 years old. Lean and fit. My eyes already towards the sky thinking about a career in aviation. Everything good ahead of me. Hope. Fun. Exploration. Discovery. Learning. A year later I would be studying and flying to earn my Private license.
My recollections of my youth always seem a little fuzzy and without crisp clarity but I wont forget how Top Gun (1986) left me feeling. It was a spectacle like no other I had ever seen. Everyone was young and beautiful. Cool beyond words. But those machines I fell for the machines. Since that time I have been a fighter jet nerd. Models, RC models, simulators and a career in civil aviation.
Top Gun Maverick was setting up to be a complete failure as my outlook on such similar projects had be set by other failures of this nature. Supposed grandiose sequils/prequils ended up in flops. I have seen every aviation movie there is to see and I with few as an exception I have ended up just sitting there counting Hollywood's mistakes in their portrayal of flight and the endless minutia that surrounds it. I still have the expectation that things will be accurate. Really accurate. But mostly I am disappointed. You would think that with all that money they would hire at least a private pilot to consult and tell them which way the ailerons should move when a plane banks right.
Within 5 minutes I didn't notice that my hands were clenched, and I was tensed up, a clear sign I had bought in. Not everything is perfectly correct, but Tom Cruise made sure that as much realism landed on film to lock in on the nerds like me. The number of flares before exhausted the manual pitch override lever to over G the airframe. Bullet count and difficulty in hitting a target.
Another point. They didn't need to oversell the female fighter pilot idea. They didn't need to "She Hulk" this woman. She was short and stout, just like you want them for high G tolerance IRL. She worked just fine in the film. A smooth seamless fit.
A wonderful movie. I can't remember when the last time I screamed at my monitor and clapped my hands "F#%K Yeah!" Who does that anymore?
Nice work Tom. Those of us in the know understand it was your consultation that made this movie what it is.
1883 (2021)
Poetry
I have never seen such poetry in cinematography since Dances With Wolves. Each episode was at least this quality or better. I longed for a time piece that wasn't afraid to tell it like it was or like I imagined it to be at that period in America.
Wonderfully acted. I hope there is no other seasons. Such a quality piece of story telling just cant be topped and no one should try. To the directors, you have created greatness....now release it and let it float away. It needs nothing else.
Cheer (2020)
What can I say.......
I went into episode one thinking this Cheer show would be pure garbage. By the last episode I was screaming and cheering. Who knew so much went into this stuff. You must watch this. Must!
Long Shot (2019)
Shockingly Sweet and funny
I cannot believe it. I was bored and Ive seen everything else the human species has created in the way of movies and I found myself literally laughing to tears. One of those laughs that makes no sound HAHAHA you know the ones. I am not a fan of anything romantic and I actually screamed "Kiss HER". Worth your time. Worth your money. Wonderfully acted. What else can I say. Bring Kleenex.
Vice (2018)
Great
Once you get over how good looking Amy Adams is at any age you can focus on the content. It was so good I forgot I was watching famous actors. Like the movie Ray you forget its Jamie Fox the actor. I do not know what is true about the movie but its wholly believable.
Worth the watch
Meteor (2009)
This was just the worst piece of garbage..a real loser folks.
The only reason you want to watch this show is because of decent movies on the subject of meteors hitting earth like Armageddon. This drivel is no better than the worst soap opera you have ever seen. Two women run out of gas, what an insult to women.. and one actually checks under the hood!..for what? more gas? They show you how it is somehow possible to take out a meteor traveling at some unimaginable velocity with a tiny slow shoulder launched ground to air missile called a stinger. Absolutely ridiculous.
The Americanism in this movie is simply over the top. if the low ball acting, cheesy special effects or the unrealistic concepts weren't enough..the laughable American "Dudley Do Right" attitude will make your stomach turn and eyes roll.
This show is crap.